Property and Privacy Rights in Missouri

(St. Charles, MO) – A man’s (or woman’s) home is our castle, so the old saying goes.

Are the castle walls crumbling at the hands of government and corporations? According to the guests on this week’s “Missouri Viewpoints”, the answer is “yes”.

Eapen Thampy is the founder of Americans for Forfeiture Reform. That’s an effort that started in Missouri and claims law enforcement is wrongly taking cash and other property from citizens through arrest and property seizure.

Calling the abuse of property seizure “policing for profit”, Thampy and other opponents of civil asset forfeiture say the practice is becoming more common and it could impact anyone at anytime. Their claim: law enforcement has figured out how to take property (including cash) even without a conviction and make it nearly impossible for the rightful owners to get it back.

It’s an issue you may not know about. Whether you agree with Thampy or not, you’ll probably agree that it’s a topic that deserves more attention.

Government isn’t the only entity looking in on us.

The Show Me Institute’s Kacie Galbraith joins us for a discussion about your privacy.

Are we allowing government to know too much about us? If we’ve got nothing to hide, what does it matter if government knows our private business?

Galbraith says it does matter and she explains why.

Government isn’t the only one collecting our data, though. From financial records to the medicines we use to the books we read, business also sees the profit in collecting information about us.

What do we need to know to make smart decisions and protect our privacy?